


the family they always wanted

by notatallyourseed



Series: ella's hatchetfield fics [2]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Autistic Character, Canon Divergent, Childbirth, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Mostly Fluff, Pregnancy, Premature Childbirth, Some angst, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22997197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notatallyourseed/pseuds/notatallyourseed
Summary: tom and becky houston had been happily married for three years and they had three wonderful children. timothy houston, tom's son with his late wife and hannah and lex houston, their beautiful adopted girls. they were extremely happy. but will two lines on a stick change all of that for them?
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Hannah Foster & Becky Barnes, Hannah Foster & Ethan Green, Hannah Foster & Lex Foster, Hannah Foster & Tim Houston, Hannah Foster & Tom Houston, Lex Foster & Becky Barnes, Lex Foster & Tom Houston, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins, Tim Houston & Lex Foster, Tim Houston & Tom Houston
Series: ella's hatchetfield fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676128
Comments: 46
Kudos: 76





	1. good morning

**Author's Note:**

> hey, all! ever since watching black friday, i knew i wanted to make a family fic with tom and becky adopting the foster girls. this is going to be very canon-divergent! ethan is still alive and while it does take place in the universe of the show, the events in the show did not happen.

becky houston woke up like she normally did, with her seven year old daughter hannah climbing into her bed and snuggling between becky and her husband, tom. as soon as she felt the little girl come between the two of them, a smile crept it’s way onto her face. ever since she and tom had adopted the girls, her life had changed tremendously. 

she loved being a mom to all three of her kids, including her twelve year old step-son, tim, but it could get overwhelming at times. being a mom meant that she had zero days off, but she loved it. while she and lex hadn’t gotten on great at first, their relationship had gotten a lot better in the two years and six months since they had adopted the girls. tim and becky got along very well, as becky reminded tim a lot of his mom, but she knew that she wasn’t going to replace his mom, and tim appreciated that. but hannah and becky had just clicked right away. hannah reminded becky of her young self in so many ways. the little girl was very shy and reserved, but also very creative and intelligent. she had always wanted children of her own, but she was perfectly happy with her three kids. even though she had only met them when they were four and a half, ten and fifteen, she still loved them.

so, becky really had no desire to have biological children. she loved her kids and her husband and her family already felt complete. so you can only imagine how anxious she was when she realized that she might be pregnant. she already had three kids, she really did not need another one. becky had come to the conclusion that she would take a test once she had gotten the kids to school and tom had gone to work, but she was dreading it. she wouldn’t necessarily be sad if she was pregnant, but she also wouldn’t be thrilled. she didn’t want to put her kids in a situation where they would feel like she loved her biological child more than she loved her other kids. that would never be true. becky loved her family more than anything else in the world, and she would never love one of her kids more than another. her thoughts were interrupted by little hannah wrapping her arms around her waist.

“mama, don’t wanna go to school.” hannah says, snuggling into becky’s side. becky still felt immense happiness whenever one of her kids called her mom. she never forced it on them, but she loved that they were comfortable enough with her to call her that.

“why is that, banana?” becky asked her daughter, as her husband started to stir beside the two of them, “i think today is gonna be a great day at school.” becky says, turning her head to look at the clock. six o’clock. she had about five minutes until she had to get up and start the long process of getting lex and tim out of bed.

“no. webby says it’s gonna be a bad day.” hannah says, making becky frown. they were still waiting on a schizophrenia diagnosis for hannah, but becky always tried her best to support her daughter and comfort her when she was sad. she always tried to listen to her and understand her problems, because she knew that hannah didn’t get that with her biological mother.

“well, i think you should tell webby that you are going to have a great day! you love school, hannah! you get to see your friends.. and then after school, daddy said he was gonna take you and your sister and brother to get ice cream! doesn’t that sound like fun?” becky says, looking down at her daughter, who was now looking up at her. hannah’s eyes perk up at the mention of her father and ice cream. 

“ice cream? can i get strawberry?” hannah says, making becky smile. 

“you can get whatever you want, banana.” becky says, ruffling the little girl’s messy brown hair and starting to get out of bed. as she got out of bed, tom sat up and smiled at becky and hannah.

“hey, it’s two of my favorite girls!” he says, making hannah laugh and roll over on the bed so she was next to him, “hi, banana, did you sleep good last night?” he asks his daughter, who nods and smiles at him, “i’m so glad.” he says, smiling at the little girl next to him. she was probably the most adorable little girl he had ever seen in his entire life. he never thought he would have more kids after jane died, but he had always wanted a daughter. he loved his son so much, but his daughters completed their family. 

becky watches the two of them interact, a small smile on her face. she loved the two of them so, so much. so much, in fact, that she almost wanted to stand there and watch them all day. sadly, she couldn’t, as ethan would be there to pick lex up for school in about an hour and she had to go wake her eldest up. she walked out of the room and into their bathroom across the hall so she could brush her teeth. when suddenly, she felt uneasiness in her stomach. something didn’t feel right. this uneasiness quickly turned to a complete churn in her stomach. she bent down next to the toilet and spilled the contents of her stomach into it.

“mom?” lex says, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, “are you okay? should i go get dad?” she asks, pointing to the bedroom across the hallway. becky quickly shook her head.

“no, no, lex, it’s fine. i’m fine. i’ve just been a little bit nauseous lately. i haven’t felt great for a few days now. i probably just have a little stomach bug or something.” she half-lies to her eldest, standing up and flushing the toilet so she could brush her teeth. lex raised an eyebrow.

“if you say so. don’t make yourself more sick. you don’t have to work today, do you?” lex asked, to which becky shakes her head, “rest. drink some water. i love you, ethan and i are gonna go get breakfast, so i’m leaving now, but i’ll see you later.”

“i love you too, lex. have a great day at school, sweetie.” becky says, forcing a smile at her daughter. 

shit.

rebecca barnes houston was probably pregnant. no, not probably. most likely. 

she was definitely pregnant.


	2. waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> please enjoy this chapter!!!

once all of her kids and her husband had left the house and gone off to school and work respectively, becky immediately went straight for the bathroom. she had bought a couple of pregnancy tests a few days prior, but she had been too absolutely mortified to take any of them. she just really didn’t wanna know. 

she took a couple of tests out of the box and took them after a few minutes, setting them face down on the counter. she was terrified. her heart was beating out of her chest and she could barely breathe. the thought of possibly being pregnant terrified her to no end. a million thoughts swirled around in her head. what if hannah didn’t like kids? what if tim felt like they loved the new baby more than him? what if lex felt unwanted? what if tom didn’t want a baby? that thought terrified her. tom was the love of her life. she didn’t want him to leave her or be mad at her because she was pregnant. she didn’t want to think about the possibility of him being upset with her. that thought scared her more than anything else in the world.

for the next ten minutes, becky sat there. thinking of every single possibility she could as to what would possible happen. she didn’t want anyone to be upset with her. no, it wasn’t exactly her decision to get pregnant, but she was the one that wasn’t on birth control. she was the one that forgot to remind tom to wear a condom… although in her mind she knew it wasn’t her fault, in her heart she truly felt like it was. she just didn’t want a baby. not now, and probably not ever.

the pregnancy test was seemingly staring into her soul. she didn’t want to worry about it anymore, so she flipped it over. as soon as she saw the two lines, her hand flew to her mouth. while she wasn’t surprised, she was still scared. shakily, she picked up the test and stared at it some more. two lines. she was pregnant.

the more she thought about it, the more she thought it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. she had always dreamed about having kids. she loved her adopted kids so, so much and she would in no way want them to think that she loved her baby more than them. she loved her older kids. they were her babies too. but thinking about going through the process of having a baby with tom made something inside her really happy. also, she might be biased, but she was sure that their baby would be really, really cute. i mean, how could it not be? just from looking at tim, she knew that tom made cute babies. tim was one of the cutest children she had ever seen in her entire life. from the curly brown hair that matched his father’s on the top of his head, to his little nose and his brown eyes, becky thought her boy was extremely adorable.

and even though this baby wouldn’t be biologically related to the girls, becky hoped that the baby would inherit the personality of her daughters. lex’s sassiness and how much she cared about others was something that becky secretly hoped her child would inherit. lex’s snarkiness was, while sometimes annoying and unnessecary, becky mostly found it hilarious. hannah was extremely intelligent and was one of the kindest children becky had ever met in her entire life. the little girl cared so much for others and always wanted to make sure that her family was okay. but most of all - the thought of seeing tom with a little tiny baby made her heart melt. he loved their older kids so much and was the most caring dad, but the thought of seeing him with a tiny baby sounded extremely adorable. she knew tom loved her and her kids, so he wouldn’t be mad, would he? she just really wasn’t sure.

so, becky did what she was pretty sure was the right thing to do, and she called a nearby OBGYN’s office to get an appointment. to see her baby. that thought still didn’t seem right to her. she was going to have a baby! she wasn’t yet sure if she was happy or mortified, but she was gonna do the best thing she could do and she was going to make the most of it. she didn’t think there was really anything else she could do, was there? i mean, she had options. if she didn’t want to have this baby, she could get an abortion or put the baby up for adoption, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to do that. she would talk to tom before she made an official decision, but she was pretty sure she wanted to keep it.

becky already wasn’t sure how other women did this. pregnancy seemed like one big waiting game to her. all she was doing was sitting around and waiting for her husband to come home so she could tell him the news. she was scared, sure, but she was honestly more uneasy. all she could do was wait.

so that’s what she did. she waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!


	3. telling him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> becky’s first OBGYN appointment + telling tom

“well, mrs. houston, your test results are average. you are around eight weeks along, so your due date will be early october.. let’s say october 3rd?” her doctor states, offering becky a small smile, “you can find out what you’re having in about eight weeks, we’re gonna do an ultrasound and then schedule another appointment.” the woman adds, instructing becky to lie down on the table. she put the gel on her stomach, starting the ultrasound. the screen in the room suddenly showed a little tiny dot.

“that is your baby.” the doctor says, bringing tears to becky’s eyes, “would you like a sonogram picture to take home?” she asks and becky nods, a smile floating onto her face. 

that was her baby. that tiny little blob of a human was her baby. and she now knew when it was going to arrive! she was going to have a baby in october, maybe sooner. the thought terrified her, but she was a tiny bit excited. the baby was not much bigger than a pea, but becky was still in love with it. she was going to be having a baby in seven months, and now she had to tell tom. while she really, really didn’t want to, she had to. he deserved to know that he was now going to have four children, not three. they handed her a couple of sonogram pictures and she scheduled another appointment, and with that, they sent her on her way.

when becky got home, she tried to think of an easy way to tell her husband that she was having his baby, but she really couldn’t think of anything. she couldn’t exactly just say, “hey, babe, i’m pregnant.” but she also didn’t want to make a huge deal about it. she wanted to be able to have this conversation comfortably. becky wasn’t quite sure how this was going to happen, but she knew it had to as she heard the door shut. tom was home for his lunch break.

“becky? where are you, babe?” he calls out, making becky panic. she hadn’t put away the sonogram pictures yet and she really didn’t want to tell him right this second, but she guessed it was going to have to be now or never.

“i’m in the bedroom, tom.” she calls out, “and i have some news.” becky adds, getting more and more nervous as she heard him step closer and closer. as tom walked in the room, she knew right away that he had seen the sonograms sitting next to her. when she saw the expression on his face, a queasy, but still slightly happy look faded onto her face, “surprise!” she says, nervously tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

“is this for real?” tom asks, not sure whether he should smile or cry. becky nods, a small smile on her face. tom places his hands on his face, “oh my god, how are we gonna fit another kid in this house?” he says, “i’m thrilled, i really am, i know we weren’t really trying to have a baby, but i’m happy. tim’ll be thrilled, he’s always wanted a baby sibling. i mean, he has hannah, but she’s not exactly a baby.” tom says. he was surprisingly chill about all of this.  
“wait, so, to be clear, you’re not mad?” becky asks her husband, which he answers by hugging her tightly, kissing her temple gently and sweetly.

“of course i’m not mad. you know i love our family and you more than anything else on the planet, babe. expanding our family wasn’t necessarily something i had planned on, but i was never opposed to it.” he says into her hair, making her eyes well up with tears, “i love you, rebecca houston. it still makes me a little excited every time i say your name. we were always meant to be together.”

“i love you too, tommy. if we have a boy, i was thinking we could name him after you. thomas houston. i have no clue what to name it if it’s a girl.” becky says, making tom smile. 

“we can name the baby whatever you want to name it. i’m just happy that you’re happy. do you know what your due date is yet, baby?” tom says, making becky smile and nod.

“october 3rd. we find out what we’re having in april.” becky says, practically glowing, “how are we gonna tell the kids?”

“i have no fucking clue.”


	4. talkin' about a baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it had been about a month since becky found out she was pregnant and she still didn’t have the heart to tell her kids. she and tom had talked about it, but she couldn’t think of a way to tell them without being too awkward or upsetting them. she was terrified that her kids didn’t want another sibling or that they would feel unwanted. that is most definitely not what she wanted. but as she was now slightly starting to show, and she was pretty sure that lex and her boyfriend ethan were both getting suspicious.

it had been about a month since becky found out she was pregnant and she still didn’t have the heart to tell her kids. she and tom had talked about it, but she couldn’t think of a way to tell them without being too awkward or upsetting them. she was terrified that her kids didn’t want another sibling or that they would feel unwanted. that is most definitely not what she wanted. but as she was now slightly starting to show, and she was pretty sure that lex and her boyfriend ethan were both getting suspicious. she didn’t think they younger two suspected anything, but hannah could tell that something was up with her mother. 

tom came home from work a little bit early from work one day, before any of the kids got home. he had a target bag in one hand and a starbucks iced coffee for becky in the other. becky was still ecstatic that she was allowed to drink coffee while pregnant, as some women weren’t, but she wasn’t sure she could live without it. becky grinned when she saw her husband. she was currently on nights at the hospital, meaning she normally worked from eight pm to four am, sometimes longer, and she was exhausted. she needed all the caffeine she could get. 

“thank you, tom. i appreciate it. i need all the coffee i can get right now. your kid plus my work schedule is making me exhausted.” becky says, smiling slightly at her husband. he pressed his lips to her nose, a small blush gracing his cheeks.

“no problem, beck. oh, i got something for the baby.” he says, pulling a tiny onesie out of the bag. it said ‘i’m the baby, don’t mess with me.’ becky laughs slightly when she sees the onesie, knowing how true it was. tom was already protective over the baby and it hadn’t even come out yet. becky knew that lex was quite the overprotective older sister, so she knew that she would be even more protective over the baby sibling. even tim was protective over hannah. he loved his little sister, and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. 

“i’m sure it will look perfect on them. oh, by the way, i’ve decided that i think it’s a boy. i did some of those old wives tales and according to three out of five of them, we are having a baby boy. i don’t have a preference, but a boy would be a lot of fun.” becky says, making tom smile.

“it’s definitely a girl. i don’t know, i just have a hunch. i was right with tim, and i was right with lia.” lia was emma and paul’s daughter, who was now almost two. emma and paul came over pretty often, as tom really wants to have a better relationship with emma and he wants tim to be able to know his cousin, “but i could most definitely be wrong. who knows, it could be an alien!” tom says, making becky laugh.

“i’m really excited to have this baby with you, tom.” becky says, making tom’s smile grow bigger, “we are going to have the cutest baby ever. well, other than lex, hannah and tim when they were babies. i wish we had hannah and lex’s baby pictures. i bet they were adorable. i would really love to torture lex with those.” she says, laughing quietly.

“i’ve known lex since she was in seventh grade, so almost six years now. hannah was like - one or two when i met her, and she was adorable. lex has always been pretty, but she’s also had that attitude of hers forever.” tom says, chuckling, “i guess she gets that from me. i just still can’t believe that we get to be their parents! they’re so good to my boy, and they’re actually pretty good kids. i mean, other than staying up until one am to wait for lex to come home, they really don’t cause many problems. i love them.”

“me too.” becky says, smiling. tom was right. the girls were two of the best kids that she had ever met in her whole life, other than tim of course. lex had an attitude, sure, but what seventeen year old didn’t? besides, her attitude reminded becky of tom, so it honestly didn’t bother her very much. hannah was just so sweet. she was always so willing to help her family with whatever they needed. she just loved to make her family happy, and becky thought that was so amazing. hannah was probably the wisest seven year old becky had ever met. the two girls also had an extremely tight and beautiful relationship. lex cared for hannah so well and you could tell that the two had been through hell and back together. becky just loved her daughters so much.

but becky also really, really loved tim. tim was the spitting image of his father with, from what she had been told, his mother’s kindness and overall personality. tim was basically the perfect child. he loved his family very, very much and becky loved him even more. becky just wanted to protect her son. he was so precious. he was one of the four best things to ever happen to her. she just hoped that this new kid was half as good as her older kids, and it would be perfect. things were going well. now she just had to tell her kids about the new baby.


	5. telling them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tom and becky tell the kids

“tom, we have to tell them. soon.” becky was now four months pregnant. her gender reveal ultrasound was in a week. and she was showing. she had been wearing tom’s shirts, baggy sweatshirts, and baggy sweatpants while she was at home. most of her work friends knew that she was pregnant, but her kids still had no clue. she was dreading telling them, as she really, really wasn’t sure how they were going to react. she was currently looking in the large mirror in their bedroom, admiring her little baby bump. tom walked over to her, placing a hand on the small bump, a happy smile on his face.

“we will. don’t stress about it, baby. the kids’ll warm up to the idea of having a baby sibling.” tom says, turning her around so she was looking at him, “i was thinking.. if it’s a girl, maybe her middle name could be jane? i feel like tim would really like that.. i’d like it too. i love you, becky, you’re the love of my life, but i loved her too. she was my wife for eleven years. and she was tim’s mom, so i feel like it would be a nice tribute to her.” he says, trying not to get emotional as he spoke. he loved becky so, so much, but he had loved jane too, and he was still grieving her, years after it had happened.

becky smiled at her husband as he spoke. she knew he missed her. she saw it every time she watched her husband with tim, or every time he spoke about something they had done when she saw alive. she saw it in everything he did. becky knew tom loved her, but she also knew that she wasn’t a replacement to jane. she wasn’t jane perkins-houston. and from everything she had heard about her, they weren’t really similar in anything but their parenting styles. 

“i think that sounds like a wonderful idea, tom. i still haven’t found any names that really stick out to me, i don’t love super trendy names, but i want something unique. something that isn’t common. the only two i really like are boy names. i like jonah thomas and archie thomas a lot,” she says. they had decided to stick with tom’s name for the middle name if the baby was a boy, “and I like maisy for a girl, but i don’t love it. i don’t know, i just don’t feel like anything is sticking. maybe the kids will have a suggestion.” she says, making tom smile.

“i like maisy and jonah. but yeah, when we tell the kids we can see what names they like.” tom says, “would you be up for telling them today? i don’t think we can hold off much longer.” he says, causing becky to nod. she wanted to tell them, she really did, but was she ready? absolutely not. she didn’t want to completely undo all the work she had put into their relationships. she was just scared.

she heard the door shut. lex had gotten home from ethan’s house. it was a saturday, meaning all of their kids were home. they were all here. she really couldn’t put it off any longer. she smiled at tim weakly, walking over to her bedside table to grab the sonogram picture, handing it to tom.

“keep it in your pocket, we can show it to them after we tell them.” becky says, to which tom nods, “we can do this, right, babe?” becky says. tom grins.

“hell yeah we can.” tom says, pecking her lips gently and stroking her cheek gently, “the kids love you, beck. you’re already their mom, we’re just uh - completing our family.” he says, chuckling, “it’s not that it didn’t feel complete before, it’s just gonna be even more complete now. which, by the way, we do need to tell them that we weren’t exactly planning on having this baby. i don’t want them to think we weren’t happy with just the three of them.”

“i agree, we should tell them that. i love you. we’ve got this.” she says. tom tells her that he loves her too, and goes to knock on hannah’s room door, knocking, “hey, banana, can you come to the living room? mom and i have some news.” he says. becky goes to the kitchen where she finds lex.. and ethan? she didn’t know ethan was over. shit.

“hey, mrs. houston. do you mind if i stay the night? my mom’s kind of - really high right now, and i don’t wanna stay at home, her new boyfriend is over-” ethan starts before becky interrupts him, knowing the gravity of his situation. both tom and becky knew that ethan didn’t have the best situation at home, so they made sure that he knew that he was always welcome at the houston home. he was great with the younger kids, and although tim was a little uncomfortable around the older guy at first, as he didn’t know him and he was dating his now older sister, he eventually warmed up to him and ethan kinda became like an older brother to him. 

“ethan, i’ve told you a million times, you can call me becky. and yes, of course you can stay over. dad and i actually have some news for you and your siblings, and since ethan is basically a part of the family, he can listen to. go sit in the living room, i think hannah and tim are already in there.” becky says, to which lex raises an eyebrow.

“what’s the big news? are we moving?” lex asks, making becky smile.

“just go sit in the living room, we’ll tell you in a few minutes. don’t worry, i don’t think it’s really bad news. things are just gonna be a little bit different now.” becky says. ethan’s eyes darted from her eyes to her stomach, back up to his eyes. she knew that he had probably suspected something. she wasn’t the super energetic, super fun she normally was and she hadn’t been for a couple of months now. 

“okay.” lex says, pulling ethan into the living room and sitting next to him on the couch, intertwining their hands. hannah immediately sits on ethan’s lap when he sits down and tim sits next to his older sister, doing the little handshake that they had with each other, which made becky’s heart swell ten times bigger every time she saw it. it was seriously adorable. she smiled at tim, sitting down on the couch across from the one the kids were sitting on next to tom. she looked at her husband, before looking at her kids and starting to speak.

“so, guys, i’m going to be really transparent with you and just say it straight out, but just know that we weren’t really planning on this happening. i’m pregnant.” becky says, and lex’s jaw drops. tim’s hand flies to his mouth and hannah just kinda stares at them, looking a little surprised. ethan didn’t look surprised in the slightest.

“wow, um, congrats, guys. i.. i need a second.” lex says, running to her room. ethan puts hannah down, following her. she didn’t look mad, she just kinda looked shocked. tim looked down at his lap, before looking up at his parents. 

“when do we get to find out what it is?” he asks, a small smile coming onto his face, “i’ve always wanted a little sibling, i’m just really shocked. i didn’t think you guys wanted any more kids.” he says.

“well, this baby wasn’t exactly planned. we were perfectly content with just you three, we didn’t need another baby. we love you guys more than anything.” tom says, “but we are pretty excited. i happen to think that you and your sisters will make excellent older siblings to this little baby. we’re gonna use jane for the middle name if it’s a girl.” tom says, struggling to get through the last sentence.

“i’m excited. are you excited, hannah banana?” tim asks his little sister, who shakes her head. tom and becky looked at each other and then their daughter.

“okay, could you tell us why?”

“you want to replace me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aw poor hannah. i hope you guys are enjoying the story! i think i've already decided what the gender of the baby is gonna be, but i wanna have you guys help me pick the name! i want something that would have meaning to tom and becky? idk, what are your suggestions? the ones i've thought of are:
> 
> girl:  
> cara (love, beloved)  
> theodora (gift)  
> bea (she who brings happiness)  
> celeste (heavenly)  
> eleanora (light)
> 
> boy:  
> shiloh (tranquil)  
> caleb (heart)  
> asher (happy/blessed)  
> theodore (gift)  
> felix (lucky)


	6. hannah houston is precious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't think of a chapter title, but it's true.

“hannah, baby, that’s not what we want at all.”

becky’s worst nightmare had basically come true. hannah. her hannah! her baby girl… she thought that they wanted to replace her. with hannah’s special needs, it had been hard to form a relationship with her at first. the little girl didn’t want to open up to her or tom at first, but becky learned that she couldn’t push anything with the little girl. she just had to let her decide when she wanted to talk. at first, hannah would hardly eat or speak unless she was around ethan or lex. she would snap anytime anyone tried to touch her or speak to her. she didn’t know what to do at first. she wanted to have a relationship with her daughter, but she didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but one day, hannah just started speaking to her. and she started hugging her. and becky was thrilled. 

hannah was becky’s baby. she loved the little girl more than anything else on the planet, besides the other two kids, who she loved just as much. she would do just about anything to make her little girl smile. she just loved her so much, and the thought that hannah assumed her parents didn’t love her broke becky’s heart. 

“can you come sit with me for a minute, banana?” tom says, smiling at his daughter. she nods, walking over and sitting on her father’s lap, “your mom and i love you so much. even though we haven’t had you your whole life, you are our baby. you and your sister and brother are everything to us. we would never want to replace you.” he says, “you, hannah elise houston, are our kid. and we love you. we just know that you are going to make the most awesome big sister to the baby.”

hannah nods, placing her face in her dad’s neck and allowing him to hug her close to him, “love you.” she whispers. becky mentally awes at the cuteness of her husband and their youngest daughter. as tim had gone to bed after talking to his parents, it was just the three of them in the room. as hannah pulled away from tom’s hug, she got up and walked over to hug her mother.

“we love you so much, hannah.” becky says, pressing her lips to hannah’s temple, “and i think the baby loves you too. i can feel it moving around in there.”

“her. you can feel her moving around in there.” hannah corrects, making becky smile and raise an eyebrow, “it’s gonna be a sister, mom. not a brother.”

“oh.” becky says. she still thought the baby was going to be a boy, but she wanted to listen to hannah, “well we’re going to find out next friday, would you like to go to the appointment with us?” she asks her daughter, who nods.

becky houston was content with everything. all three of her kids were happy, so she was happy. until she heard her oldest daughter crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, guys. here is a lineup of what the next few chapters will be:
> 
> 7\. tom and ethan comfort lex  
> 8\. gender reveal appointment  
> 9\. dinner at the matthews household  
> 10\. a tim centric chapter!!!!


	7. lexie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tom doesn't like to see his children upset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are my own!

when tom houston became a father for the first time, he was twenty-two years old. watching jane go through labor was one of the most painful things he had ever had to witness. he hated seeing her in so much pain. but when tim came into the world, it all seemed to make sense. timothy connor houston. timothy was jane’s father’s name, and connor was what tom had wanted to name the baby. his little man had been by his side through everything, and tom knew that he was meant to be tim’s dad. while the two of them fought sometimes, tim was still his son. his perfect little boy.

tom houston met his older daughter, lex, when she was only fourteen years old. he was teaching a career exploration class at hatchetfield high, and lex had been kicked out of her other class because she couldn’t seem to pass it. while lex always gave tom a hard time, she did very, very well in his class. she was smart and she had his attitude. he liked her for that. what he didn’t expect was to see her come into class with a broken arm and a black eye one day. lex didn’t lose fights. in fact, it was a known fact at hatchetfield that no one fucked with lex foster because she really wasn’t afraid to kick somebody’s ass. this concerned him. when he asked her about it after class, she completely broke down. as he listened to her talk about how unsafe her home was, he knew he had to take her in. he and becky had just gotten married and financially, things were tight for them. but he didn’t care. he didn’t trust that lex was going to be safe at home and he felt this overwhelming urge to protect her. he felt like he would if tim got hurt, only it was more pressing, as this girl was in danger. so he made the very necessary call to CPS and he got her removed. after a lot of paperwork and drama, he took her and her five year old sister in.

hannah became tom’s baby the second he laid eyes on her for the first time. he knew he had to protect her. he knew she was his daughter, their crazy ass mother didn’t deserve them. and quickly, hannah elise foster and alexandra rose foster became hannah elise houston and alexandra rose houston. they were his kids. officially. he now had three kids.

and he was now about to have four.

but when he heard lex cry, his paternal instincts kicked in. he had the same feeling that he had that day she broke down in his classroom. he had to protect his girls. so he stood up, and walked quickly to her door, walking in.

lex was in a ball on the floor and ethan was trying to comfort her, but it wasn’t working. she was hysterical. seeing his lexie like that broke his heart. his girl - his baby girl - was sad and he couldn’t handle it. he couldn’t handle seeing her like this. 

“lex, what’s wrong?” he asks, crouching down next to her and rubbing her back gently. lex just cried harder at that, so ethan answered for her, running his hands through her hair soothingly.

“she’s scared that you and mrs. h- becky will forget about her once the new baby is born. she’s scared that you’ll love the baby more than you love her.” ethan says, breaking tom’s heart as he spoke.

“lex, sweetheart, you know that’s not true. you know i love you so much, nothing could ever make me forget you. you’re my little girl. i know you’re all tough and shit but you’re still my baby. your mom and i love you so much. she was so scared that you guys would think this, we definitely did not plan this baby. but you are the best older sister ever to both tim and hannah. and i’m sure you’ll be incredible with this baby too.” tom says, tears in his eyes. his daughter just melts into his arms.

“i love you so much, dad. i’m scared. beth, my bio mom, she didn’t give a shit about me. and i know you guys are nothing like her but,” she says, her crying picking back up again, “sometimes i think that it was my fault that she didn’t care about me. that i’m just not worth it. and sometimes i think that one day you and becky will think that about me.”

tom’s heart broke even more. he loved his kids so much - more than anything in the world, and the thought that lex ever thought about that broke him. it smashed his heart into a billion pieces and it killed him.

“lex, it’s not your fault that your mom was horrible. you’re amazing, lexie. you are the best older sister. you have an incredible worth ethic, you’re funny and you’re just a good kid. you didn’t deserve anything that your mother did to you. you are incredible, sweetheart. don’t you ever forget that.” tom says, pulling her closer to him and kissing her temple gently. he loved her so fucking much. she was his kid. while he wasn’t a part in making her, but he knew that he was meant to be her dad. and she was meant to be his and becky’s kid. 

“your dad is so totally right, babe. you are incredible. not to mention fucking hot.” ethan says, making tom glare at him. yeah, tom liked ethan, but he really didn’t like the thought of his kid doing anything that wasn’t hugging with ethan. this earns a laugh from lex, though, which made him smile. if lex thought it was funny, he was cool with it. he was cool with anything that made his daughter happy. he loved her. he didn’t feel like he could say that enough. he just wanted her to know constantly that she was loved and cared for in the houston household. he kissed her temple, squeezing her before letting go and standing up.

“okay, i’m gonna go. but i love you, lexie. and you’re alright too, ethan.” he says, making his daughter laugh, “don’t stay up too late. and if you do, please be quiet. hannah and tim need to go to sleep.”

“got it, dad. i love you too. and i do agree, ethan is pretty okay.” lex says, making ethan punch her in the arm lightly. 

“aw, thanks, lexie.” ethan says, making lex glare at him.

“you don’t get to call me lexie.” she says, before cracking a smile. tom left the room, walking back into the living room to find his wife passed out asleep on the couch. he smiled, picking her up and carrying her to bed.

yeah, life was pretty okay for tom houston.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> gender reveal is the next chapter! what are your final guesses on what baby houston will be? i have already decided, but i'd love to hear your guesses.


	8. the big reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gender reveal of baby houston!

it was a beautiful day, and for so many reasons. today was the day of becky’s gender reveal party. while she hadn’t initially intended on having a party, tom had found a youtube video and he had decided to have one, just with their family and close friends. they invited the matthews family, who had one year old lia. they had also invited ethan, and becky had invited some of her work friends. tom had put ethan in charge of getting the confetti cannons for the party, so he had done that and they were now setting up. everyone was wearing their guess, so tom had a pink button up on, along with some pink converse he had found at the goodwill. 

lex was head to toe completely dressed in blue. She had on leggings with a blue shirt and a blue jean jacket, along with some blue running shoes. ethan was wearing both colors, as he knew the gender of the baby and he didn’t want to give it away. he was having a really, really hard time keeping it from lex. he rarely kept anything from her. and this was a pretty big deal. 

hannah, however, was very confident in the fact that she thought the baby was a girl. she had on a pink sweater and her overalls, along with some cute white chuck taylors. becky had braided her hair, as hannah didn’t like it when her hair was in her face. she always said she felt like it was choking her when it was down, so becky and tom never made her wear it down. tim was pretty sure the baby was a boy, so he was also wearing blue. he had on a blue shirt, blue shorts, and blue shoes. he even had blue socks on, but you couldn’t see them underneath his shoes. all of the kids were super excited to find out what the baby was. as the guests started to arrive, becky smiled. she was going to have a baby in about four and half months and her baby would be so loved, boy or girl. 

tom walked over to his wife, wrapping an arm around her waist and smiling. she leaned into his side, placing a hand on her small baby bump. this was really happening. everything she ever wanted was really happening. she was married to her high school sweetheart, she had three incredible kids and she had another on the way. all of her dreams were coming true.

“i’m really excited to find out. i’ll love her either way, but it’s definitely a girl.” tom says, smiling at his wife, “i know we have two girls already, but i’d love another one. another son would be incredible too, but i really think it’s a girl.” tom says, smiling at his wife. he honestly just wanted a healthy baby, he didn’t care what it was. becky wanted a boy, but she knew a girl would be amazing too. she also really just wanted a healthy baby.

as emma and paul walked into the backyard of the houston household, little lia immediately ran towards the table with food on it. paul’s eyes widened at his daughter’s actions, running towards her. 

“lia!” paul says, as she reaches for the candy bowl. the curly-haired, brown-eyed little girl didn’t even turn when her father said her name. she had a tendency to do that. emma looked pretty unimpressed. paul, who was attempting to hold his daughter as she kicked and yelled for him to, ‘let down!’ emma looked at tom and becky, an exhausted look on her face.

“this is what you have to look forward to.” emma says, making tom laugh. tim was like that when he was younger. he liked that age. sure, it was exhausting, but it was fun. tom looked back at emma and nearly had to do a double-take. sometimes she looked exactly like jane. sometimes it took a lot for him to look at her and get extremely emotional. emma’s personality was really not anything like jane’s, so at least he could hold down a conversation with her without crying.

“lia, don’t touch that!” paul says to his daughter, as she reached up to pull on some streamers. paul was a great dad, and tom knew that, but he could be very overprotective. it was cute. tom was protective sometimes too, but paul literally never let his daughter out of his sight. tom knew he would probably be the same way himself if they ended up having a girl, but he found it pretty funny to watch the tall dude chase around the tiny girl, who was normally getting into something. 

becky hugged emma tightly, smiling when she pulled away. emma looked like she probably hadn’t slept in weeks. i mean, she did have a toddler who got into every single thing she could lay her hands on. they didn’t expect her to look amazing, she just looked so tired.

“congrats on the baby, you two. you get to stay up all night with a screaming toddler every night! yay!” emma says sarcastically, making tom laugh yet again. becky smiled, rubbing emma’s arm gently.

“if you want us to keep her sometime, we don’t mind!” becky says, smiling at emma, “we could use the practice.” she says. emma raises her eyebrows, a small smirk on her face.

“i might just take you up on that. if my husband will let me. she’s never stayed at someone else’s house before. he won’t let her. he gets too nervous.” emma says, chuckling and looking over at her husband running after their daughter, “he is obsessed with that kid. i’ve always just been a big fan of letting her be a kid. she’s almost two, it’s not like she’s gonna- shit.” emma says, looking at her daughter, who was sitting on top of the snack table, looking like she would bite paul if he tried to pick her up. emma runs over to her husband and daughter, speaking to them both and then picking lia up, bringing her back over to becky and tom.

“lia, say hi.” emma says, to which the little girl grins and waves. she may be the bane of emma’s existence sometimes, but she was so freaking cute. she looked exactly like her mother with her father’s eyes. she was a really beautiful kid. becky was sure her baby would be just as cute as emma’s, but looking at the little girl made her even more excited to have a baby of her own. 

ethan walked out to where the camera was set up so he could film their reactions, and called becky and tom over. becky’s heart started thumping once again. she was so excited. they had decided to not do the traditional pink in blue, instead they each picked a color. tom picked green for a boy and becky picked purple for a girl. ethan explained this to everyone, before handing the confetti cannon to tom and becky. the kids gathered around them and they started to count down.

“ten! nine! eight! seven! six! five! four! three! two! one!”

becky pulled the confetti cannon and was shocked at what came out. purple confetti went all over the place. they were having a baby girl! becky was shocked. she had really thought that the baby was a boy. tears immediately starting to stream down her face as the confetti came out. hannah had a huge smile on her face. she hugged tim tightly and laughed.

“it’s a girl!” everyone yelled. tom was full on sobbing. he had thought it was a girl, but at the last second he had convinced himself that it wasn’t gonna happen. he wanted another little girl, not that his two girls weren’t enough, he just wanted another little baby girl to love. and he had never technically had a baby girl, so that was a new world for him. he was so excited. 

lex was thrilled, although she had really thought that was going to be a girl. she loved her sister so much and she was thrilled to be having another one. her siblings were absolutely everything to her and she was so happy to have another one coming. she already just wanted her sister to be sade and happy. she knew that little girl was going to be so very loved. ethan smiled at the excited look on lex’s face. seeing her happy made him so incredibly happy. he just loved her so much, he was so happy that she was excited to be having another sister, as he was worried that she wasn’t going to be thrilled. 

tim was super happy as well. not only was he going to be having a baby sister. he did the math in his head, and he figured out that when his sister was his age, he would be twenty-four. he already loved his sister so much, and he couldn’t wait for her to join their family. 

becky looked at how happy her kids were, and she leaned in to hug and kiss her husband gently. she was so happy. a baby girl! they were going to be having a baby girl! now they just had to find her a first name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha weren’t expecting that one were ya :)
> 
> i literally was planning to do a boy until the very VERY last second and then i was like “nah let’s make it a girl!”
> 
> i still need a name tho pls help me


	9. wild day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a LOT happens in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pay CLOSE attention to the first paragraph of this chapter! there is kind of a time skip in between the last chapter and this chapter!

becky barnes was pretty much miserable. she was newly eight months pregnant and her body wasn’t taking too well to the pregnancy. she felt sick every moment she was awake and she rarely left her bed other than to eat or go to work. her kids normally came to her whenever they needed anything, as she was just constantly resting. one day, a saturday morning, her eldest daughter, lex, rushed into her room. 

“mom, can you take me to ethan’s? it’s an emergency - his dad, uh.. his dad hurt him. and we need to go get him. now.” as soon as lex said ethan was hurt, becky immediately got out of bed and put her slippers on, rushing out of the house with her daughter. hannah and tim were still asleep, so she didn’t have to worry about taking them. lex was trying to keep her composure as they got into the car, but becky could tell she was stressed. her daughter didn’t really like to show her emotions, and she normally just kept everything bottled up around her family. 

“mom, i’m worried about him… we can’t let him stay there, we have to go to the police.” lex says, to which becky nods. she knew that lex was serious. she wouldn’t tell becky that they needed to go to the police if she didn’t think ethan was going to be okay. becky was worried this time. she knew that ethan didn’t neccesarily have the best home life, and she made sure that he knew that he was always welcome at the houston household. as they pulled into the driveway of ethan’s house, lex took out her phone to text him that they had gotten there. ethan walked out, and becky was immediately concerned.

he was limping. even if ethan was in pain, he would rarely let it show. he never let himself be seen as weak. he was ethan green. that’s just who he was. in his mind, he had to be strong. he didn’t want lex or hannah or even mr. houston to think he was weak, he just couldn’t have that. he loved lex too much for her to think that he wasn’t strong. it would break his heart if his hannah thought he was too weak to protect her. ethan opened the door and got in the car, sitting in the back next to lex. he was crying, but he didn’t want either of them to notice, so he wiped his eyes, wincing as he did so. his wrist seemed to be either strained or broken. becky was just glad that he was able to walk. that was a good sign.

“jesus christ, ethan.. you can’t stay there anymore.” lex says, examining her boyfriend’s injuries. lex looked at her mother, and instead of turning down the street to get to the houston home, she turned towards the street to go to the hospital. she called tom to let him know where they were, and tom did what he knew he needed to do.

he called emma matthews.

emma had always known that something was up with ethan. she had been in college for child psychology, as she had a strong passion for social work. lia wasn’t planned - she and paul had always said that they wanted to adopt their kids. they were of the belief that there were so many kids in the world without a loving home to return to at the end of the day, so they had always said that they wanted to adopt. ethan loved emma and paul. he and lex babysat lia a lot, and lia adored ethan. she was precious, how could they not adore her? so he called emma. he knew that she and paul would take ethan in. 

within forty-five minutes, emma and paul had shown up to the hospital where ethan was staying with an exhausted lia. ethan had just gotten checked out, but they were having him stay in the hospital overnight. as he was only seventeen, and his injuries showed signs of consistent abuse, they had to give someone else temporary guardianship. becky and tom were going to offer their home up to him, but they were also going to ask him if he wanted to stay with emma and paul.

“so.. ethan, uh, they don’t want you to go back to your dad. and, uh, no pressure, but you have two options.. you can either come home with us or you can go stay with emma and paul for a while..” becky offers. ethan’s eyes light up when becky mentions emma and paul. 

“they want me to stay with them?” ethan asks, tears in his eyes. becky nods. ethan wipes his eyes, before looking at becky, “i want to stay with them. if that’s okay with you guys?”

“ethan, whatever would make you most comfortable is okay with us.” becky says, before looking down after hearing a splat on the floor.

shit.

her water just broke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT ONE, WERE YOU?
> 
> next chapter will be the birth of baby houston!


	10. a grand entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the birth of baby girl houston!

as becky looked down at the tiny little girl in her arms and she thought about the last 27 hours of her life, she was still not sure how she got to be here.

after she had gotten ethan to the hospital and her water had broken in his hospital room, lex had immediately called tom, who had gotten to the hospital with tim and hannah almost immediately. all three of their kids went home with emma and lia, and paul stayed at the hospital to be there overnight with ethan. tom was really, really scared.

his wife was only thirty-three weeks pregnant. their daughter was going to be very tiny. and she was probably going to have some health issues, which scared the hell out of him. all he wanted was a healthy baby and now he might not even get one. so he sat in becky’s hospital bed, right next to her, trying not to freak out for his wife’s sake. he didn’t need her to be more stressed than she already was. she was hysterical.

becky wanted her little girl to be healthy. she didn’t want her to struggle, she just wanted her to be okay. so she was struggling to stay calm. she didn’t know if her daughter was going to be safe, how could she stay calm? the contractions continued to hit her, and every time another one came over her, she felt more and more pain. it felt like everything inside her body was being ripped apart one piece at a time. it was terrible. it literally felt like if she coughed or sneezed, her insides would split apart. she was terrified and she was just in so, so much pain. 

“tom.. it hurts, i c-can’t.. i can’t do it.” becky sobs out. it was hurting tom to see his wife in so much pain. she had always said that she wanted an epidural when she had the baby, and now it wasn’t looking like that was going to be an option. the doctors were saying that she was probably going to have to have a c-section, but becky was terrified of that. in one of her first years as a nurse, she had seen a woman and her baby die during an emergency c-section, and from that day on, she was terrified of them.

“baby, you can do this. i believe in you. you are going to be fine.. our baby girl is gonna be okay. i promise.” tom says, more for himself than for becky. he was so scared. what if something happened to becky? what if something happened to their baby girl? they were terrified. 

so, after deliberating with the doctors and becky, they decided to do an emergency c-section. two hours later, becky was in the delivery room, along with tom. lex, who had wanted to stay and wait for her baby sister to be born, was waiting in the waiting room. becky was awake, but she couldn’t really feel anything anymore. well, other than fear. she was still pretty terrified that she was going to bleed out and die. tom held her hand, making sure she was okay at every step of the way. around one hour later, becky heard it.

the crying of her daughter. it was the most sad and also the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. they allowed tom to cut the umbilical cord, and tom was a mess. he was hysterical. the baby was tiny, but not nearly as tiny as they were expecting her to be. she was going to be okay. they quickly weighed the little girl, yelling out her statistics. she was seemingly breathing fine on her own, so after a few moments, they decided to let becky hold her little girl for a few minutes.

“she weighs 4lbs, 4oz.” one of the nurses says, to which becky just starts crying harder. they finished the operation as the little girl was placed on becky’s chest. as tiny as she was, she had the darkest hair becky had ever seen on a baby, and the cutest little nose. she looked a lot like tim, becky thought as she looked down at her daughter. the baby was still crying, which the nurses assured becky was a good sign. tom looked at the little girl and then back at his wife, sitting down on the chair next to them. 

“does she have a name?” the doctor asked, writing the bracelet that would go on the little girl’s wrist. tom looked at becky, then back at the little girl in her arms.

“stella jane-rosemarie houston.” tom says, smiling down at the little girl in becky’s arms.

stella means beloved star. and stella was going to bring light into their lives, much like a star brings light in the sky. becky loved the name, and tom had grown to love it. they were planning on telling the kids that they had chosen a name, but they never really got the chance to, as the baby had come very early. jane was after tom’s late wife and tim’s mom, and rosemarie was becky’s middle name. they both loved her name, and they thought it was perfect.

“hi, stella..” tom whispers, stroking his daughter’s dark hair. she was perfect. she was the perfect combination of him and becky, and he just loved her so much. all he wanted was for her to be safe and happy for the rest of her lfe.

the nurses took stella back for some routine testing, and becky let out a sigh of relief. 

her baby girl was here. she was healthy. she was perfect. so becky was happy.

life was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how cute is her name???? i love it! the next chapter will probably be more stella and tom content, and we'll see some cute tom/becky mom and dad stuff!!
> 
> i hope you enjoyed!


	11. isn't she lovely?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tom is super soft for stella and it's very cute

as tom looked at his little girl, who was sleeping in her little bed in the NICU, he thought about how lucky they were that nothing went terribly wrong with baby stella. her siblings still weren’t allowed to meet her, as it was flu season and they were all under eighteen. they had to wait until stella got a little bit bigger. 

the little girl was perfect. she had dark, almost black hair, much like tim did when he was a baby. in a strange way, she had a little mannerism that reminded tom of his hannah. she always sleeps with her tiny little hands tucked under her chin, which is what hannah had been doing the entire time she had lived with the houstons. she also had quite the large number of facial expressions. she smiles in her sleep and has quite the mad face. she was just so loved by everybody in her family, and her siblings hadn’t even met her yet.

one of the nurses came out to tell tom that he could come in and hold his daughter, and he immediately accepted. when he walked up to her little cot, he realized once again how tiny she really was. he could basically put his hand over her whole body. his little tiny baby girl. the more he looks at her, the more he was realizing how much the baby looked like her mother. she had becky’s beautiful blue eyes and adorable facial expressions. stella was perfect. he knew that no matter what happened, he would always look at her and see a tiny baby girl. his tiny baby girl. the thought that he had another daughter was insane. he thought he had at least another month to prepare for the birth of his daughter. and here she was.

tom picked up his tiny daughter, placing her on his chest and kissing the top of her head gently. he loved her so much. he just wanted to hold her in his arms and protect her forever. she was perfect. secretly, tom wished he had had this time with lexie and hannah when they were born. he was their father too, and he hated that he hadn’t been there for them their entire lives. he loved his girls. all four of them, now. he loved them all equally, as well. tom was sort of scared that he would love stella more than lex and hannah, but he didn’t feel like that at all. if anything, his heart just felt more complete with stella. there wasn’t even a hole in his heart, it was now basically just overflowing with love for his family. 

“stella jane… daddy loves you so much.” he whispers to his little girl, pressing his lips to her hair once again. he strokes her head gently, feeling her breathe against him. he pulled her away from his chest hesitantly so he could look at her, seeing that the nurses had put a little purple bow in her hair. he wanted to take a picture to send to becky, but he couldn’t make himself put his baby down. he sat down in one of the chairs in the NICU, holding his daughter close to him, “listen here, stella. you should probably sleep while you’re here, because i can’t promise you’ll be getting much sleep at our house. your sister, lex, she likes to have her music turned up to the loudest possible volume at all times. and your other two siblings are really excited for you to be here, so i doubt they’ll let you sleep very much.” he whispers to the little girl, who was now staring up at him. 

“and your mama is already pretty obsessed with you. she’ll probably be taking pictures of you in all those cute little outfits she spent all of our money on.” tom jokes, stroking his daughter’s cheek. tears were running down his face. he didn’t think he could ever love anyone as much as he loved his older kids and becky, but looking down into stella’s adorable blue eyes made him wonder why he ever thought something like that. 

tom didn’t even know that he had needed stella. he didn’t know that he needed another baby for his family to be complete. she had barely been on this earth for two days and she was already such a light in their lives. she was just such a blessing - tom was so thankful for her. one of the nurses walked over, and tom thought it was time for stella to go back to get shots or something, but instead, the nurse smiled at him.

“your wife is awake, we moved her into recovery. stella is doing really well, if you’d like, you can call someone to bring your older two kids in? we aren’t supposed to have any kids under twelve around NICU babies.” the nurse says. tom’s heart broke a little bit when he realized that tim and lex could come meet stella, but hannah couldn’t. he knew that would hurt hannah. he decided he would talk to becky about that when he went back to her room, “you guys are probably going to be good to leave by wednesday, we’d just like her to hit five pounds before you can go. she’s not having any issues breathing on her own and she’s perfectly healthy.”

tom’s smile grew slightly when he heard that his daughter was healthy.

she really was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was kinda short! the next chapter is going to be them going home, so that chapter will be the kids meeting stella!
> 
> i still need input on what my next starkid book should be - what are your ideas?


	12. meet the family (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the houston kids meet their sister for the first time.

baby stella was one week old, and becky and tom were finally allowed to take her home. she was going to get to meet her big siblings! they had dressed her up in a little pink onesie that tim had picked out for her that said ‘baby sister’ and some cute little white and pink plaid leggings with a white bow. tom thought she looked absolutely adorable, but then again, he thought she looked adorable in everything. 

“tom, i just got a text from lex, apparently hannah has been looking out the window waiting for us to come home for the past five minutes.” becky says, as they walk out of the hospital towards their car. he lets out a small ‘aw’ at what she says, looking down at his daughter in his arms. he had gone out and put her carseat in the car a few hours early, just so it was there when they were ready to go home. he pressed his lips to the little girl’s nose, stroking her dark hair gently.

“i think they are going to be obsessed with her. i mean, who wouldn’t be? she’s perfect.” becky says, opening the car door for her husband. she had recovered from having the baby with little to no complications, which she was thrilled about. she was really worried that because her pregnancy was so hard and stella was born so early, that the birth would be horrible. but it really wasn’t all that bad! she loved her little girl so much and she would do anything for her already. 

“she is perfect. just like her mama and her sisters and brother.” tom says, buckling the baby into her carseat. becky climbed into the backseat next to her daughter, only needing a little bit of help from her husband. she stroked stella’s hair, smiling as the little girl opened her eyes. 

“hi, stell-bell..” becky says, grinning at the little baby. she was so cute. stella had a little dimple in her left cheek, and becky was convinced that it was the single cutest thing ever. she just loved her girl so much, she didn’t think she could say it enough. her daughter was just absolutely perfect. 

“ready to go home, mrs. houston?” tom says, smiling happily at his wife and daughter interacting.

becky nods, looking over at stella, who had her eyes wide open. she was seemingly looking around, trying to take in her new surroundings. becky smiled at the baby, giving the little girl her pointer finger to hold onto. her smile grows when the little girl latches onto her finger right away, looking at her mother’s finger. stella furrowed her eyebrows, making a face that looked exactly like tom, which made becky chuckle.

“sometimes i think she looks like me, but then she’ll make her mad face or her surprised face and i realize that she looks exactly like you.” becky says, as tom started to drive. tom nods in agreement, “she has this one face that reminds me so much of our lexie. it’s her yawn. when she reaches her arms up, she looks just like lex.” 

“yeah, she does. and she sleeps in the same position that hannah does. it’s precious. speaking of hannah, lex told me that she has really, really missed us. so we need to make sure to pay extra attention to her. i’m planning on taking her out to breakfast tomorrow morning, maybe you could do the same with tim? lex is okay, she’s old enough to know that we love her, we just need to make sure that we pay attention to them, and don’t ignore any of them because of the baby.” tom says. becky agreed with everything that he had said - that was her biggest worry with having a baby. she hadn’t given birth to lex, tim or hannah, but they were just as much her babies as stella was. she loved stella so much, but she loved her other kids just as much. and nothing could change that. she just hoped they would be able to see that.

“i agree. you should try and hang out with lex this week too - she and ethan have been working really hard on stella’s nursery since he got out of the hospital, and they’re super excited for us to see it. so just be extra sweet to them, okay? i know lex is grown, she doesn’t need as much attention as the younger kids do, but i feel like we have to make up for lost time. we didn’t get adopt her until she was fifteen, we didn’t get to see her grow up. so sometimes i feel like we have to spoil her, y’know?” lex had gone through a lot in the past couple of weeks. her boyfriend had had to go to the hospital, and luckily he was now out of his bad home situation and living with paul and emma, but she still worried about him like crazy. not to mention, she had been incredible with being their for her siblings while becky and tom were at the hospital with stella. emma and paul had been coming over to help during the day, but she had been there through the night and in the mornings. and through all of that, she had still gone to work and made money, which she spent most of on cute little outfits for her baby sister. becky loved her daughter so much.

“lex is one of the strongest kids i’ve ever met.” tom says, as they turn into their neighborhood, “but i agree with you, babe. we’ve gotta baby her sometimes, she’s still our baby girl. even if she’s seventeen.” he says, making becky laugh a little bit, “stella jane, are you ready to meet your big siblings?” he asks his youngest, even though he knew she couldn’t answer. 

as soon as they pulled into the driveway, becky saw hannah and tim peeking out the window and grinning when they saw the car, which made becky’s heart soar. she loved her babies so much. 

tom parked the car and got stella out of her carseat, pulling her up so her head was resting on his shoulder. becky got out after, wincing slightly as she felt some pain in her lower region. sure, she had recovered fine, but everything still hurt pretty badly. she had just had a baby, for god’s sake. tom kissed becky’s temple, looking down at the shorter woman. 

“you okay, babe?” he asks, taking one of his hands off of stella to wrap an arm around becky, supporting her so she could walk easier. becky nods, leaning onto him slightly as they started to walk into the house.   
as soon as they were at the door, lex opened it, and immediately pulled her mom into a hug once she was inside. becky hugged her eldest back tightly, kissing her daughter’s forehead.

“mommy!” she heard her seven year old squeal. she felt two little arms wrap themselves around her waist, which just made her smile even wider. she loved her family so, so much. she heard her husband hug their only son with his free arm, soon after hearing little stella start to cry. the sound of stella’s cry still broke becky’s heart. it was the saddest thing she had ever heard in her whole life. 

“it’s okay, baby, daddy’s got you..” tom says, starting to bounce his knees gently, something that was normally soothing to stella. he was the best dad ever, becky was sure of it. it was still unreal to her that she had had a baby with the most amazing man on the face of the earth, and they had three other beautiful kids. she just loved her family so much.

becky lets go of lex and hannah, and they all walk over to the couch where tim and tom had sat down. and the reactions that came from her kids the first time they saw their baby sister in person for the first time? easily the cutest moment becky had ever witnessed in her whole life.

lex smiled. and becky knew that it was one of the most genuine smiles she had ever seen from her daughter. she just knew. a tear ran down lex’s face as she looked at her baby sister. she was instantly reminded of the first time she had ever seen hannah. hannah had the cutest little face lex had ever seen in her whole life. as soon as she saw her baby sister, she knew she had to protect her for the rest of her life. and she felt the same thing with stella. 

tim was just staring at the baby with so much love and adoration in his eyes. he loved his baby sister so much already and he had only just met her. he wanted to hold her, but hannah had been adamant about being the first one of the siblings to hold stella. he smiled at his dad and becky, who just had this gorgeous glow about them. they looked so happy. he looked over at his other little sister, smiling as he saw the huge smile on her face. she looked extremely happy to be seeing his little sister for the first time. 

“can i hold her?” hannah asks, a grin on her face.

“yeah, baby, just be sure to support her head and hold her with both hands, okay?” tom asked, “you’ve got to be very gentle with her. baby stella is only seven days old, she’s very little. did you guys wash your hands already?” the kids all nod. becky had thought ahead and told lex to have her siblings wash their hands before they had gotten home so they could hold the baby, “awesome, okay, banana, i’m gonna take her out of her carseat and then you can have her, okay?” hannah nods and tom puts stella’s carseat down, unbuckling her and getting her out of the carseat.

“hi, baby girl..” tom whispers. he never got over seeing his daughter. she was so perfect. her little eyes open and she stretched, putting her little hands in the air. it was one of the cutest things he had ever seen. he gave the baby to hannah, and grinned when he saw hannah’s face. they were all so happy.

everything was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part two should be up soon! what else would you guys like to see in this book?
> 
> all comments and kudos are appreciated!


	13. becky houston's not so funtime hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> becky is woken up by her baby for the seventeenth time in a row. fluff ensues.
> 
> chapter title inspired by rim tim timmy's funtime hour!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! sorry i haven't been posting very much lately, i'm currently quarantined away from my fiancee because i am extremely asthmatic and i cannot risk catching the virus, and since he is considered essential, i packed up the boys and we are staying with my mom. luke knows not to hug me or get too close, but as theo is only four months old, he is with me most of the day. i'm finding time to write when i can, this book is almost finished and i'm planning to post the rest of it tonight/tomorrow to catch you guys up!
> 
> love you all and STAY SAFE!!
> 
> -ella

“stella, please, baby… stop crying, everything is okay.” becky says, trying to get her two week old daughter to go to sleep. it was now almost three in the goddamn morning, and she was trying to take some of the load off of tom. he had gone back to work the day before, and becky was still on maternity leave, so she had voted herself to go get stella. she loved her daughter. her little girl was one of the five most perfect people she had ever seen in her entire life, but she was definitely struggling from postpartum depression. very badly, for that matter. all she ever did was feed her baby and try to get her to stop crying. she very rarely got to see the sweet, happy little newborn that they had in the first few days that they had brought stella home. 

as she was standing in her daughter’s nursery, the little baby screaming in her arms, she felt a hand place itself on her waist. she turned her head slightly to see it was tom. a concerned look crept its way onto her face. 

“tom, you have to work tomorrow, go to sleep.” becky says, exasperated, “i’m okay to stay up with her tonight, you had the older kids all afternoon. you deserve a break.” she says, trying to speak over her daughter’s crying but hopefully not loud enough to wake the children. luckily, the kids’ rooms were at the other end of the house and they rarely woke up when stella cried. 

“becky barnes houston, you are one stubborn woman.” tom says, chuckling at his wife, “let me have her for a minute.” he says, taking baby stella out of his wife’s arms, much to her dismay. becky could not stop thinking about how goddamn pathetic she was. she couldn’t even calm her baby. what was wrong with her? why couldn’t she do it? within twenty seconds of stella being in her husband’s arms, the baby calmed down. she always calmed down at the sound of her dad’s voice, something becky found both adorable and frustrating. why couldn’t she calm her own baby? she had given birth to stella, and not that tom hadn’t helped, but she was stella’s fucking mom! and she couldn’t even calm her down?

“hi, baby… daddy and mommy would really appreciate it if you would go to sleep or at least stop crying. we love you very much, but we can’t get very much sleep when you don’t sleep…” tom spoke to his daughter. she cooed up at her father, putting her little hand on his face. becky was sometimes really jealous of how much their daughter loved tom. she liked becky enough, sure, but becky was not her favorite. tom was her favorite. just as it was with seemingly all of their other kids. and sometimes that hurt her a little bit. normally she just counted her blessings and moved on with her life, but for some reason tonight she couldn’t.

“tom… why does she like you more than she likes me?” becky asks, making tom look up from his now sleeping daughter. becky could understand why stella, and all of their children really, liked tom more than her. she never really thought she would get married again after stanley, much less have a kid, and even though she had worked with kids through most of her career, she wasn’t sure that she was the best mom in the world. tom was an incredible father - he loved all four of his kids equally, he made sure that he paid them all attention and that they knew that they were loved. becky struggled to be away from stella for longer than ten minutes, so as much as she could say she was probably an adequate mom before having the baby, she wasn’t sure that she was even an okay mom now.

“becky, she’s a baby. babies normally tend to pick one parent to cling to. does she scream all day while i’m at work?” tom says, and becky shakes her head. the baby rarely screamed when the house was empty and it was just the little girl and her mother. she was actually fairly well behaved for a newborn. 

“maybe she’s just a daddy’s girl. like all of our daughters.” becky says, chuckling. tom laughed slightly at her joke, before shaking his head.

“tim tends to open up more to you. he told me that you remind him of his mom, but you’re different enough to not be a replacement of his mom and he likes that. so i think tim favors you.” tom says, smiling at his wife, who became teary eyed at that sentiment. he was right. tim loved becky. he also really, really loved stella, which meant he spent a lot of time with becky, because she was normally wearing stella. 

“we have good kids, don’t we?” becky says, smiling at her husband, who nodded.

“we do. but we should probably put our littlest kid to bed, huh?” he says, in his ‘baby voice,’ aka the voice he used literally every single time he talked to stella. he walked over her and kissed her nose before laying her down in her little crib. becky walked up beside her husband, laying her head on his arm

“she’s so beautiful.” becky whispers, smiling at her daughter. tom looked down at his wife, before looking back at his daughter.

“it’s cause she looks like her mommy.” he says, smirking down at his wife.

“oh, shut up, don’t be romantic right now.” becky says, “i’m trying to look at our cute baby, and you’re distracting me.” she says, smiling back down at the baby.

“i love you, stella jane-rosemarie.” becky says, grinning down at her daughter, before hearing her husband chuckle quietly next to her.

“i love you too, mom.” he says, in the weirdest voice he possibly could, making becky slap his arm and lift her head up from it.

“tom, shut the fuck up.” she grumbled sleepily. in the next twenty minutes, they had convinced themselves to stop staring at their cute baby and go back to sleep. as becky fell asleep in her husband’s arms, she thought about her wonderful family that she loved so very much. and she knew that they loved her too. that brought becky so, so much joy,


	14. a/n

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> life updates + a question

Y’all.

It’s been a while!

This quarantine has been a whirlwind for me, I recently found out that I’m pregnant with baby #3 (baby girl #1!!!!!) so that’s exciting, but I was put onto bedrest a few days ago due to some complications with my pregnancy. I’m still nursing Theo, and he was sick for a few days, and he just wanted me to hold him nonstop so I wasn’t able to write at all. 

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I will probably post a few more chapters of this book and then start working on another! Does anyone have anything they’d like to see?

(side note: anybody have any name ideas that go with Theo and Luke? we really like Kate, but I think it’s a little too basic. I’m not due until October, so i’ve got some time to think on it. I’m very excited!!)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed!


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